Topic

Anti-Government Protests in Macedonia

Mass anti-government protests have begun in Macedonia in mid-May following the Kumanovo tragedy. Macedonian opposition, led by Social Democratic Union of Macedonia
(SDSM) head Zoran Zaev, blames the government of current Macedonian
Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski for the country's social and economic
woes, accusing several members of the Cabinet of corruption and criminal
offense.

EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn has called for early elections overseen by the EU in an effort to resolve the deep political crisis between the government and opposition in Macedonia over claims of mass surveillance and election fraud.

There is increasing speculation over the political future of Macedonia and its Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, as the country’s four main political party leaders meet for EU-US brokered talks in Skopje to try and break the impasse that has resulted in calls for Gruevski to resign.

The small Balkan nation has been a candidate nation for EU accession since 2005. Over the period of 10 years, not much has been done to bring Macedonia closer to the EU. However, as protests erupted in Skopje, EU leaders suddenly become “worried” about the fate of Macedonia.

The Turkish Stream pipeline, proposed by Russia, is expected to pass through the territory of Macedonia. The US seeks to prevent it and stage a coup in the country, at the same time promoting the Trans Adriatic Pipeline - the energy project that would enable gas supplies from the allied Azerbaijan and decrease EU’s energy dependence on Russia.

After Russia's Stroitransgaz announced it will build a gas pipeline across Macedonia, Skopje has come under heavy criticism from Washington, Brussels and numerous US-funded NGOs, which blasted the government for violating "European values."

Washington is afraid that Europe may get too much independence thanks to the Turkish Stream project. And the protests in Skopje are the heavy price Macedonia is paying for its refusal to join western sanctions against Russia.

Current developments in Macedonia go along with "regime change" scenarios that have been used in Serbia and other European states and are currently being seen in Latin America, Zivadin Jovanovic, a Serbian diplomat and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Yugoslavia told Sputnik.

The Council of Europe (CoE) with the assistance of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) may create a special advisory group to investigate civil rights violations amid political protests in Macedonia, CoE Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland said Tuesday.

Dozens of members of the Macedonian opposition party have spent a second night in a tent camp just outside a government building in the country's capital of Skopje, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported Tuesday.

According to reports, over 90,000 people participated in a rally in the Macedonian capital Skopje to support Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and to protest Sunday's anti-government rally organized by opposition leader Zoran Zaev.

Macedonia's ruling conservative VMRO-DPMNE party is set to hold a pro-government rally in the country's capital Skopje on Monday evening after tens of thousands of people had taken to the streets to call for the resignation of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, local media reported.

The recent political protests in Macedonia calling for the resignation of the country's leader have divided opinion across the world, with some viewing the protests as an example of people power in action, while others say the uprising is being stoked by the West as part of larger geopolitical game.

The Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM), the largest opposition party in the country, will demand the resignation of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski at a mass protest in the capital Skopje on Sunday, the party’s leader Zoran Zaev said Friday.

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